Reference no: EM133462480
Author Study - Flannery O'Connor
Directions: Review the questions below and then complete the readings and responses as directed. Type your responses in a word document and submit them in the course site. This assignment sheet is worth 75 points.
Question 1. Read three O'Connor short stories:
- "A Good Man is Hard to Find"
- "Good Country People"
- "Revelation"
Question 2. Complete the Week 9 O'Connor Quiz in the course site.
Question 3. After reading this essay about O'Connor and this article about her, research on your own about O'Connor, and record five interesting facts about her life; make sure you fully paraphrase and cite the information. For each fact, include a properly attributed citation. If you use the exact wording from a source, place it in quotation marks. Include an explanation of each fact as to its significance in your understanding the author's works you read.
- Fact 1:
- Fact 2:
- Fact 3:
- Fact 4:
- Fact 5:
Question 4. Analyze the stories for literary devices, and record one example of the following devices from any of her stories that are exceptionally well-done. Quote each example (include story title and page number for citation). Then, explain the rationale for your selection. Each explanation should be at least one paragraph in length (5-12 sentences).
Literary Device - Foreshadowing: Rationale for selection:
Literary Device - Irony:
Rationale for selection:
Literary Device - Symbol:
Question 5. Answer the following questions from the The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature. Each answer should be 1-2 paragraphs (a paragraph can be between 5-12 sentences), and cite specific examples from the stories for support.
Q#1: How do Mrs. Hopewell's assumptions about life compare with those of Kreb's mother in Hemingway's "Soldier's Home"? Explain how the conflict in each story is related to what the mothers come to represent in the eyes of the central characters.
Q#2: Compare and contrast Mary Grace with Hulga of "Good Country People."
Q#3: Explain how "Revelation" could be used as a title for any of the O'Connor stories you have read.
Question 6. After reading the essay, article, and your own research on O'Connor, choose two of these questions and respond:
Q1: Consider how O'Connor's fiction expresses her belief that "you have to cherish the world at the same time that you struggle to endure it."
Q2: A Time Magazine critic wrote this about Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" in 1962: "Highly unladylike . . . a brutal irony, a slam-bang humor, and a style of writing as balefully direct as a death sentence." How accurate do you think this blurb is in characterizing the three O'Connor stories you have read and why?
Q3: Choose an O'Connor story, and explain how grace - the divine influence from God that redeems a person - is used in it to transform a character.
Q4: Choose something specific and concrete in one of the stories that is invested by O'Connor with symbolic meaning, and explain the significance of this symbol to the plot.
Question 7. Evaluate O'Connor by responding to the following questions:
- What makes this author worthy of study?
- What did you personally connect with in these stories or the Perspectives readings?
- What characters did you find engaging and why?
- What (if anything) challenged you as a reader concerning your faith or worldview?
Cite specific short stories, the article, the essay, and your own research in your evaluation. Please write your evaluation in two to three paragraphs, using complete sentences (a paragraph can be between 5- 12 sentences). Please write your evaluation in two to three paragraphs, using complete sentences (a paragraph can be between 5-12 sentences).